Passengers call fake TTE's bluff, get rly employee held

SREERAMPORE: A 32-year-old railway employee wasn't happy with his salary. He wanted more. He hit upon an idea and posed as a TTE (travelling ticket examiner), fining all ticketless travellers he came across. Kaushik Chakraborty's luck ran out on Wednesday, when suspicious passengers caught him and handed him over to Belur GRP.
Chakraborty an employee of Eastern Railway's engineering division was posted in Sealdah.A resident of Hooghly's Konnagar, he targetted passengers travelling on local trains along the Konnagar-Bally route. After a few hours and a few hundreds richer he would take a train to Sealdah and reach office. Draped in a TTE's black coat and white trousers, he also kept his identity card handy, should anyone ask for it. The ID card was of the railways, all right, but not one which said he was a TTE.
Chakraborty's highhandedness didn't go down well with passengers. He would slap a fine under any pretext. So, when he quizzed Ajit Das on Wednesday on what he was doing in a ladies' compartment, Das tried to reason with him. Das told him since the train was already leaving the Hindmotor station platform, he boarded the first compartment in sight. Das said he was aware it was a ladies compartment and he did plan to change it once the train halted at the next platform. Chakraborty, overdoing his TTE's role, didn't listen and slapped a huge fine on Das.
Das questioned his credentials first. Chakraborty's confidence gave way to panic at Das's continued questioning. By then, several people joined Das. The people then took the accused to the Hindmotor station master, Ashim Baran Bharati. One glance at the ID card was enough for Bharati to know the truth. The station manager then forwarded Das's complaint to the Belur government railway police and cops arrested him.